The present invention relates to a cartridge which facilitates the transport and storage of a mixture and, more specifically, relates to a cartridge for holding and mixing a first and a second fluid.
Chemical sterilization is often preferable when an object being sterilized is thermosensitive and prone to wear when subjected to high temperatures. However, the use of a suitable mixture for sterilization is often complicated by difficulties incurred during the transport and storage of the components of the mixture.
For example, once the various components of a mixture for sterilization are combined, the shelf life of the overall mixture is often fairly limited. Limited shelf lives require that the mixture be used soon after the actual time when the various components were mixed. This reduces the usefulness of chemical sterilization as only limited amounts of a sterilizing mixture can be distributed for use because of the inability of end users to store the mixture for a reasonable length of time due to the limited shelf life.
One alternative to shipping the pre-mixed mixture is to ship the various components separately. While this often overcomes the difficulties associated with the limited shelf life of the resulting mixture of the component, other difficulties develop when shipping the various components of the mixture separately. For example, when shipping concentrated component solutions, special packing and shipping procedures may need to be followed due to the potentially hazardous nature of various components of the mixture when they are in a more concentrated and undiluted form. Additionally, the mixing of the various components by users requires that extra safety precautions be taken to prevent injury to the personnel that prepare the mixture. Moreover, when personnel are relied upon to properly measure and combine various components of the mixture, errors in the resulting mixture often occur.
Accordingly, the use of chemical sterilization currently presents many difficulties. As discussed above, some of the problems that are inherent in using chemical sterilization include the need for specialized shipping procedures, limited shelf life, inability to store the mixture for extended periods of time, hazards presented to personnel who mix the various components, and errors in mixing the separate components in the proper amounts.
What is currently needed in the chemical sterilization art is a device for shipping the various components of a mixture in a manner that does not require additional safeguards or special shipping procedures, that maintains the shelf life of the various components of the mixture to allow for reasonable storage periods, and that simplifies the mixing of the components to allow personnel to safely and easily mix the various components while preventing errors due to the mixing of improper amounts of the various components.